Entries in Macintosh
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That's how we felt when hearing the news that Steve Jobs is resigning his position as CEO. Gutted that his health is such that he has had to make this decision and gutted because Steve Jobs is the lens that gives Apple laser-like focus. Actually, scratch that, he gives the entire computing industry focus. We have no doubt whatsoever that he has infused his love of art, design, technology, engineering and humanity into every fibre of the company that he and Steve Wozniak founded on April 1, 1976. However there is no denying that he will be missed and that Apple will be somewhat diminished as a force for change.

We wish him well and hope that his reduced workload will give him more time and energy to focus on a full recovery.

We thought it would be interesting to run a series of posts that present some of Steve's highlights during his time as Apple's CEO.

We start with the introduction of the Macintosh. The 'insanely great' personal computer that defined the way that we would interact with computers for over 25 years.

To sell innovation you need to be able to tell a good story. Every keynote that Steve Jobs gave was a lesson in storytelling. It's not enough to simply add cool new features or new ways of doing things, communicating the reason for those 'features' and 'ways' in a style that can be easily understood and passed on to others is essential.

Recently there seem to have been a number of unique, home-made iPad docks springing up, some of them re-purposing old Macs. Three of the most creative ones that have caught our attention in the last few days are below:

Gamer Arcade Cabinet

We want! Based on ThinkGeek's April Fool's iPad joke dock, this cardboard but fully functioning mock-up has us very excited (we really wanted one of the ThinkGeek ones and tried to find out how to order it, hoping that it was real, but were very disappointed). Read more about how they did it at TUAW's site.

Ingenious and very creative, our next DIY iPad dock is built into a clamshell iBook. Although called 'Fisher Price' and otherwise mocked when it came out, we have a soft spot for this little iBook, having owned several versions, the latest one being very similar to the iBook used for this case mod.

The original post (in Japanese) does have a lot of photos showing how the iBook case mod was done, but we heard about it over at the MacStories site, where they have a description and links to the original, as well as a translated (not at all well) site.

Suffice to say,we love this.

Mac Classic dock

This one has been around for a little while on several big blogs, so forgive us if you have seen this one before, but it is creative simply for nothing other than recognising that the screen size is perfect and attacking a Mac Classic with a dremel. Although there is no access to the Home button or other buttons, or a dock connector at the moment, we think that is easy to remedy given the iBook solution above.

Check out Wired's article for more details and see the video below for what it looks like in practice, and the project creators Site Hirac even have another video on YouTube of the iPad working with a USB keyboard.

Just over 3 years ago we tuned into the first Apple iPhone commercial, famously remembered for the phrase "Hello"! During the 2010 Oscars the first iPad advert was played to an audience of celebrities and those watching from home. The first iPad commercial is markedly different to the first iPhone ad. In the iPhone advert, recycled clips from movie scenes are presented in brief rushes followed by the release date and a glimpse of the iPhone.

More recently Apple have added a certain clarity to iPhone adverts, less audacious perhaps, but certainly more mainstream and accessible. For the first iPad advert Apple is following its more recent trend of showing what the device can do. The advert is sharp, it shows a variety of apps on offer at the same time as giving a feeling of size. It gives out a relaxing vibe, showing the user with his feet up.

Looking back you can see a welcomed change in the way Apple is presenting its new innovative products. Clearly this new style is working. However, here at iPad Creative we still hanker after something a tad more epic, such as this original Macintosh advert... and no, it's not the advert you think it is. Enjoy!